Polling Latinos on climate change

Climate Change in the Latino Mind cover"Latinos are much more engaged with the issue of global warming than are non-Latinos," according to a new report from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. "Latinos are more convinced global warming is happening and human-caused, more worried about it, perceive greater risks, are more supportive of climate change policies, and are more willing to get involved politically."

Asked "Do you think that global warming is happening?" 84% of Latino respondents said yes, while 6% said no and 10% indicated that they did not know; 70% of non-Latino respondents said yes, while 14% said no and 17% indicated that they did not know.

Asked about the primary cause of global warming, 70% of Latino respondents said that it is caused mostly by human activities, while 21% said that it caused mostly by natural changes in the environment; among non-Latino respondents the split was 56% to 31%.

Asked about the scientific consensus on global warming, 63% of Latino respondents said that most scientists think global warming is happening, while 15% said that there is a lot of disagreement among scientists; among non-Latino respondents the split was 49% to 28%.

The results for Latinos were based on a survey conducted May 18 to June 8, 2017, among 2054 Latino adults — defined as those self-identifying as "Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Cuban American, or 'some other Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino group'" — living in the United States, who chose whether to take the survey in English or Spanish. The margin of error for all Latinos is +/- 3%.